Showing posts with label Factors Paper Kevin Toledo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Factors Paper Kevin Toledo. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

FACTORS PAPER - Kevin Toledo

ENTREP S20
Prof. Jorge Saguinsin
FACTORS PAPER - KMT

What does it really take to be an entrepreneur? And how come I have interests on it? Even I have been wondering on how I came to be interested in entrepreneurship.
I grew up with a family that has a mindset of employees and building careers in the corporate ladder. My father is an engineer and my mother is an accountant. Since I was a child, I looked them up as my heroes, my role models, thinking that someday I will be like them.  I took up engineering mostly because of my father’s influence on me. I have never thought that my interests could also lean on to entrepreneurship, until I learned as I grew up that businesses are owned by these entrepreneurs, and that the world is driven by the different established enterprises.   Further, I had a deeper appreciation of it when my father and mother had decided to venture to start their own businesses. Never did I think before that my parents possess entrepreneurial mindsets. They have tried to venture into different businesses and involved us as well in the conceptualization and operations of those. Most of those businesses had a good start. However, we really had difficulty of sustaining it, especially on managing the employees so most of the first business ventures of my parents had to be stopped before accumulating bigger losses. We just had to accept that those kinds of businesses are not for us yet.  It was frustrating as most of us had involved ourselves in it doing hard work. But still, I noticed that my parents, especially my mother would always know how to stand up again and continue to find new business opportunities she could venture into. Recently, we started to venture into real estate business and surprisingly, we are managing to sustain and expand it and make it profit. Perhaps, my mother found out that her passion is in the real estate business.


Going back to the question on the factors to be a successful entrepreneur, I made a research on it and found the following factors/characteristics:

Factors to be a Successful Entrepreneur
Self-Assessment
1. They are self-motivated
Successful entrepreneurs do not need someone who holds them accountable or forces them to be efficient and productive. Unfortunately, without a manager, many people cannot take their business past the planning stages. It takes hard work to create your own business; most people need someone who forces them to keep working. Moreover, when people do not have someone to hold them accountable, they may let their work’s quality suffer. For example, many freelance writers set their own hours and choose their workload. However, for this same reason, many freelance writers do not work how they ought to work.

I must admit that there would be times that I am too stubborn to immediately do the tasks given to me in school. And perhaps it’s because I lack the motivation to do so. I always find myself delaying doing those tasks/assignments because of the thought that I cannot really find enough reasons on why I should do those things and think that it is just being given to us just for the sake of doing it and having grades. But I know myself. When I want something and I find it reasonable to do things, I have the full motivation to make it a success. I may be stubborn to do things that someone requires me to do, but when it comes to things that I want and I am passionate about, I am very motivated to the point that I would always want the best output I could do.    
2. They are creative
When creating a business idea, many entrepreneurs have to be very creative. There is a good chance that someone else has already established himself as the authority for the niche that a new entrepreneur chooses. However, with a little creative twist, new entrepreneurs can take old ideas or business models and revolutionize them, making them attractive to potential clients or customers.

I believe I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur when it comes to creativity. I may not be an artist but I could really be creative when it comes to generating and developing ideas, and even things.   
3. They are intuitive
Entrepreneurs do not become successful due to luck. Every successful entrepreneur created his own path with his intelligence, creativity and intuition. Business models are constantly changing. Consequently, the way business owners market and grow their business constantly changes. The most successful entrepreneurs understand how fast current trends change. More importantly, however, they know how to keep up with the changes.

I could really not site on how I am intuitive as a person but I believe I have used my intuition on every decision I make in my life and even in helping out other people to decide. I usually decide based on reasons and facts, but when there facts and reasons cannot be considered and immediate decision making is required, I just decide based on what I feel and believe is right, and I make a stand for it.  I remember an instance that I just purely used my intuition to persuade my mother to immediately buy a certain lot out of concern that someone might be already eyeing as well that lot wherein if we are not able to buy that lot, it would hinder our real estate development to expand. We did not know if there really is someone who was eyeing to buy that lot but it was a good decision as we felt that business expansion in that aspect is secured.    
4. They are authoritative
If you were to open your own business, you would learn very quickly that there are many people with whom you need to network. However, not everyone has your best interest in mind. You may encounter naysayers, manipulators and scammers. Therefore, you must not allow yourself to be easily influenced; you must be authoritative. Though there is nothing wrong with taking advice or opinions, in the end, you must make decisions that you strongly believe will better your company.

I have been raised in a very family-oriented environment. Meaning, we have close relationship as a family and we really value the importance of family, to the point that each of us are very protective of our family. We were trained to be polite and be respectful to other people we meet but we are also trained not to be too trusting in order to protect ourselves and the family as well. With it, we were raised to make our own decisions based on the reasons we find and not from other people’s influence. Perhaps I can say that I am also authoritative in nature.
5. They are strong-willed
Successful entrepreneurs started their business with a vision - a dream. They acted on their dream by taking small steps towards accomplishing their goals. With every step, entrepreneurs get closer to attaining their ultimate goal or vision. However, not all steps are easy to take. Unfortunately, nothing worth fighting for is easy to attain. Successful entrepreneurs only made it past the difficult times by being strong-willed. They never let pessimism, difficulty or any other problems stand in their way.

               
Perhaps this factor/trait is the most evident in me. We were raised to be optimists and strong-willed. Our parents were really good motivators in terms of helping us achieve our goals. They believed in us, and we believed in ourselves that we could achieve and be successful in whatever path we take and decisions we make. We were thought to always look at the bright side if there are bad things happening. Further, we are a witness to our parents that they were very strong-willed and resilient despite of the challenges we have been through just to provide for our family and to develop ourselves, their children.  

I believe that my interest on being an entrepreneur can be traced to the influence of my parents, through their hard work and the values and vision they shared to us. And for the factors to be a successful entrepreneur, I believe I have what it takes but just that I feel I still should further improve on myself on these factors as I start to venture into entrepreneurship. 3

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